Shillong, Nov 25: Former Chief Minister and former Congress leader Dr. Mukul Sangma on Thursday publicly announced his and 11 other MLAs decision to formally leave the Congress party, and to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC). He cited the failure of Congress as a party to perform the duty as the main opposition party in the State and all over the country as the main reason to leave the party.
Addressing the media, Dr Sangma said, “We have decided to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after much consideration… We have taken a decision to merge with the Trinamool Congress… a complete sense of commitment towards serving the people has brought us to take this decision. In 2018 Assembly elections, we were confident of forming govt but we could not. Again, post-poll there were activities to poach our members.”
He added that “the legislators collectively demonstrated our commitment. Commitment towards the state has superseded everything else. We are failing in our duty as far as the role of the opposition is concerned.”
Notably, both Dr. Mukul Sangma and Charles Pyngrope further revealed that role of I-PAC head Prashant Kishor was instrumental in sealing the deal with the TMC.
Prashant Kishor is known to be a close associate of TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“We were not being able to utilise our full potential as opposition by staying in the Congress,” Dr. Sangma and Pyngrope said.
Dr. Sangma further justified the decision to leave Congress and join TMC stating, “We are here to fight against the divisive forces. Congress has failed as opposition. NPP is an ally of the BJP. So TMC is the only political entity that can counter the divisive forces.”
Dr. Sangma and Pyngrope also added that it has been a culmination of a long drawn exercise for months by looking at all aspects and the TMC has proven their worth.
